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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Mendelssohn Club Of Philadelphia

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 237121950
PA · NTEE A68Z
FY ending 2024-06-30
June 13, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Florence T Gardner, Executive Director / CEO ($98,822) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 168 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 90th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Florence T Gardner — reported title “EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

168 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 168 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$1,707 total compensation of comparable organizations → $182,776 $98,822
$18,03410th
$37,89825th
$58,352Median
$78,03075th
$96,97590th
$98,822This org · 90th
p10$18,034
p25$37,898
p50$58,352
p75$78,030
p90$96,975
$98,822

Comparable organizations

Each figure is Form 990 Part VII columns D + F (reportable pay plus other compensation and benefits; column F may include amounts from related organizations), normalized to PA cost of living (BEA RPP, 2023) and to its filing year (CPI-U); the reported amount is on each linked 990.

OrganizationStateRevenueMatched titleComp
(reported)
Comp
(adjusted)
FY
Ppc Entertainment Inc CA$480,329 Artistic Dir. $69,583 $60,252 2024
Compass Resonance CO$487,131 Artistic And Executive Dir $110,587 $106,334 2024
Liberty Bell Pops PA$473,306 Executive Director $29,740 $29,740 2024
Tkiya Music Inc NY$488,414 Executive Director $110,967 $103,521 2023
Music To Life Inc VT$471,212 Executive Director $55,000 $54,081 2025
Higher Octave Healing Inc AZ$490,179 Ceo $61,677 $61,238 2023
Noe Valley Chamber Music CA$495,560 Co-artistic Director And Co-executive Director, Board Member $74,107 $62,515 2025
Decoda Inc NY$465,077 General Manager $40,000 $36,245 2024
Bach Dancing And Dynamite Society Inc CA$496,421 President & Ceo $85,532 $74,062 2024
Jazzmobile Inc NY$463,679 Director $48,000 $44,779 2023
Mercury Soul Inc CA$463,634 Executive Dir. $120,000 $101,229 2025
Pacific Northwest School Of Music WA$463,456 Key Employee $61,415 $56,766 2023
Project 440 Inc PA$497,692 Ex-officio $25,000 $25,000 2024
Tamworth Music Festival VA$462,751 Executive Di $40,571 $39,282 2024
Riverviewjazz Org NJ$462,102 Director $44,000 $39,394 2024
Iris Music Project MD$461,813 Executive Director $85,000 $82,042 2023
Phoenix Chamber Music Society AZ$461,745 Executive Director $56,375 $55,973 2023
Art Of Elan CA$461,100 Executive Director $78,916 $68,333 2024
Youth Choirs Inc TX$460,601 President $128,750 $129,147 2024
Sam First CA$460,597 Executive & Artistic Director $35,305 $30,570 2024
Music At Gretna Inc PA$460,354 Executive Di $85,000 $85,000 2024
Young Artists Conservatory Of Music CA$459,777 Executive Director And Former Brd Director $28,000 $24,961 2023
Central New York Jazz Arts NY$503,115 Executive Di $27,400 $24,828 2024
Daisy Jopling Foundation NY$505,784 Chair $62,500 $56,633 2024
I Am Music Inc CO$454,835 Executive Dir. $17,250 $16,587 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to PA cost of living and 2024 dollars. Click any organization to verify the figure on ProPublica.

Methodology

Comparable organizations were drawn from electronically filed IRS Form 990 returns and matched on sector (NTEE code), budget (a size-adaptive revenue band that tightens as the organization grows), and geography (same-state first, broadening only when too few peers qualify); every organization within the band forms the peer set. To compare fairly across regions and years, peer compensation is normalized to PA cost of living (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2023) and to the subject's filing year (CPI-U). The figure benchmarked is Form 990 Part VII, Section A, columns D + F — reportable pay plus other compensation, benefits, and deferred amounts (column F may include amounts from related organizations) — with the chief executive matched by role. Related-organization amounts (column E) and institutional trustees are excluded. Full methodology: peerbasis.org/methodology.

Sample, role match & sensitivity

Sensitivity — the subject's percentile under alternative compensation definitions:

BasisSubject percentile
Total compensation (D + F), cost-of-living + inflation adjusted — the PeerBasis default90th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)89th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted84th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted90th

If the percentile moves materially across these definitions, the result is sensitive to methodology choices, and the board should weigh which basis best fits its facts.

Rebuttable presumption of reasonableness · 26 CFR 53.4958-6

Compensation paid by a tax-exempt organization is presumed reasonable — shifting the burden to the IRS — when three requirements are met. This report supplies the comparability data for the second. The board should record the following in its minutes concurrently with its decision:

Draft board minutes — executive compensation

  1. The compensation of the Executive Director / CEO (Florence T Gardner) was approved in advance by [the Board / Compensation Committee], composed of members with no conflict of interest with respect to the arrangement.
  2. Prior to its determination, the authorized body obtained and relied upon appropriate comparability data, namely the PeerBasis Compensation Comparability Determination dated June 13, 2026, comparing compensation against 168 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A68), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $98,822 is reasonable (approximately the 90th percentile of comparable organizations) and documented the basis for this determination concurrently, on [date], by a vote of [__ for / __ against].

Sources: IRS Form 990 e-file data (apps.irs.gov); IRS Business Master File (NTEE classification). Every figure traces to an original public filing — click any organization above to verify it on ProPublica. PeerBasis is a service of Prismind Analytics; its methodology is published, was commissioned for independent adversarial review, and discloses its own limitations. This report is comparability data to support a board's good-faith determination under IRC 4958; it is not legal or tax advice. Generated by PeerBasis on June 13, 2026.